


Origin Stories

by jumpfall



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-05
Updated: 2019-04-05
Packaged: 2020-01-04 23:46:53
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 793
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18354218
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jumpfall/pseuds/jumpfall
Summary: On the morning of her forty-sixth birthday, Pepper watches the sunrise from a rooftop in Gulmira.





	Origin Stories

**Author's Note:**

> Written as a short coda to tide us over until the end of an era that Endgame will be.

On the morning of her forty-sixth birthday, Pepper watches the sunrise from a rooftop in Gulmira.

Nearly ten years to the date Iron Man first came to town, the only evidence that Tony has ever been here is the faint blue glow to the silhouette wandering the streets below her.

(Three weeks ago, Tony asked her what she wanted this year. This had not been quite what she meant when she responded “you.” To be fair, she had been trying to say “your time” when she was summarily cut off by her office door swinging open to reveal her assistant in the middle of starting a minor diplomatic incident.)

She leans back against the hard shell over the Rescue suit tucked away behind her, shifting to tuck her left foot underneath her right knee, the fine hairs on her leg standing on end in the chill of the morning.

She’s seen the videos, she’s read the reports; she likes to think that she knows what happened here all those years ago. Except sixteen hours elapsed between the end of the benefit and the first news report, and the person who went to find her a martini is not the same one she found in the workshop the next morning.

“This is where I became Iron Man.” She turns to see Tony watching her closely as he lowers himself onto the rooftop, easing back on the thrusters on final approach to avoid burning a hole clean through the wooden surface. There’s something surreal about those words in that pose in this place and without conscious thought the lines blur between new and old. When she looks at him, what she sees is not the current armor but the one of ten years ago. Even now there’s something of the first design in the last, Tony’s own personal Ship of Theseus. There’s something of the man too, but for better or for worse, Pepper has never needed reminding of that.

“This is it?” she asks.

“This is it.”

There’s a difference, she thinks, between the choices you make and the ones that are made for you. The difference is power; not superpowers, not invisibility of invulnerability or flight, but agency. She too could burn a hole through the roof right now if she wanted. She wouldn’t need a suit but a flat palm and a flare of temper.

That’s the thing about origin stories; they are characterized by two events: the receipt of powers, and the decision to use them. A suit of armor was built from a box of scraps in a cave in Afghanistan. Iron Man was built in a workshop in Malibu. The distinction matters very little to the reporters covering the big anniversary. She imagines it means rather more to Tony.

Coming up to the ten-year mark, there have been a number of publications discussing the Age of the Hero; the questionable accountability of vigilantes, the potential for infrastructure damage, the political pressure leading up to the Sokovia accords and the fallout thereof. They speak about it like it’s ancient history, something they read about rather than lived. She went shopping with Natasha Romanoff, Steve Rogers took her to brunch. They are neither allies nor enemies but people, just like Tony, trying to do what they believe is the right thing.

It was easier to save the world the first time around. No one was watching them do it then.

“ _Someone’s_ contemplative about turning another year older,” Tony notes. “And this isn’t even the big one.”

“And what ‘big one’ would you be referring to, exactly?”

Tony opens his mouth to respond and then thinks better of it. “I plead the fifth.” Pepper laughs, turning away to hide the smile; she’s not self-conscious about turning fifty in the next few years, but it’s going to take Tony awhile to figure that out and she’s not above having some fun with him in the meantime.

“Have you figured out what you’re going to say tomorrow?” she asks instead.

“So long and thanks for all the fish?”

“I meant at the anniversary dinner.”

“So did I.”

In the village below, the first signs of life are starting to appear; a lanky young man gets on his bike and heads out of town in the direction of the fields. He would have been just a kid when Tony was here last. It’s easy to think of this place as frozen in time but kids grow up, move away, start families of their own. Life goes on.  

“This was a bad idea, wasn’t it? I should have made reservations in Paris, something with a Michelin star and tiny plate of --.”

“I like it.”

“—right, like I was saying, best birthday ever.”

“Tony.”

“Shutting up now.”


End file.
